There Is No Cheap Swiss Vignette: CHF 40 Flat in 2026
Switzerland sells one motorway pass only: CHF 40, valid roughly 14 months. A single crossing costs what a whole year does, and skipping it is CHF 200.
Switzerland has one motorway vignette, CHF 40, valid about 14 months, with no short-term version — so even a single day's crossing costs the full CHF 40, and driving without one is a CHF 200 fine.
Switzerland is the country where one day’s crossing and a full year cost exactly the same. There is a single motorway pass at CHF 40, with none of the 10-day, weekly or monthly versions Austria, Slovenia and Czechia sell, and it stays valid for about 14 months — from the start of December to the end of the following January. Take the windscreen sticker at the border, a post office or a petrol station, or buy the plate-linked e-vignette online; the price is identical either way. Caught on a motorway or expressway without one, you pay CHF 200 and still have to buy the vignette.
One price, no short-term pass
The Swiss vignette costs a flat CHF 40 (about €42). Unlike Austria, Slovenia or Czechia, Switzerland sells no 10-day, weekly or monthly version — it’s the annual vignette or nothing. It’s valid for roughly 14 months (December to the end of the following January), and it covers the entire motorway and expressway network.
Sticker or e-vignette — both CHF 40
- Windscreen sticker — sold at the border, post offices and petrol stations; best for a last-minute crossing.
- e-vignette (since 2023) — bought online, registered to your number plate, nothing to display; best for planning ahead.
Either way it’s CHF 40. As with the French Crit’Air and every European vignette, avoid reseller sites that add a service fee — the pass is identical, only the price is inflated.
The fine
Drive on a Swiss motorway without a valid vignette and it’s a CHF 200 fine — and you still have to buy the vignette. Foreign plates are checked at the roadside and, for the e-vignette, by camera, and a hire car passes the penalty back to you with an admin fee, the same trap as any driving fine abroad.
Timing your CHF 40: the 14-month window and where it applies
Because Switzerland sells only the annual vignette — CHF 40 (about €42), with no 10-day or monthly alternative — the one lever you control is when you buy it. Each vignette runs from 1 December of the previous year to 31 January of the following year, a full 14 months. Buy in early December and you’ve stretched CHF 40 across two ski seasons and a summer; buy in mid-January and you’ll need a new one within weeks. If a trip falls in that December–January overlap, check which year’s vignette makes sense — the outgoing one still covers you through 31 January.
The other detail visitors miss: the vignette isn’t just for motorways. It’s required on semi-motorways too — every green-signed road in the Swiss network. Plenty of green-signed dual carriageways near cities and borders feel like ordinary roads, and one junction on them without a vignette is the same offence as an hour on the A1. That offence costs CHF 200, plus the CHF 40 vignette bought on the spot — CHF 240 for a road you might have been on for ninety seconds.
Buy from the official federal portal, via.admin.ch (run by Swiss customs, BAZG): the e-vignette there is tied to your number plate, so enter the plate exactly as registered. Prefer the classic sticker? Same CHF 40, stuck on the windscreen. And if you’re genuinely only clipping the network — one short green-signed stretch on an otherwise rural route — it can be worth rerouting around it. Anything more, pay the CHF 40 and stop thinking about it.
Before you drive into Switzerland
- Budget CHF 40 even for a one-day crossing — there’s no cheaper option.
- Sort an e-vignette online ahead of time, or grab a sticker at the border.
- Skip the resellers — CHF 40 is CHF 40.
- See how Switzerland compares with the other eight vignette countries in our all 9 vignette countries, or check live prices in the vignette calculator.
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Frequently Asked Questions
A flat CHF 40 (around €42), and that is the only option — Switzerland does not sell short-term vignettes, so there's no cheaper 10-day or weekly version as there is in Austria or Slovenia. Whether you're crossing Switzerland once or driving there all year, it's CHF 40. The pass is valid for roughly 14 months, from the start of December to the end of January the following year, covering two calendar years' winters.
Both cost CHF 40 and both are valid across the whole network. The traditional sticker goes on the windscreen and is sold at borders, Swiss post offices and petrol stations. Since 2023 you can instead buy an e-vignette online, registered to your number plate, with nothing to display — convenient if you're planning ahead. For a last-minute crossing, the physical sticker at the border is simplest; to sort it before you travel, the e-vignette is easiest.
If you're caught on a motorway or expressway without a valid vignette, the fine is CHF 200, and you must still buy the vignette on top. Swiss authorities check at the roadside and increasingly by camera for the e-vignette, and foreign-registered cars are not exempt. In a hire car the penalty is passed back to you with an admin fee, so the CHF 200 can climb higher.
In theory yes — the vignette only applies to motorways (autobahn/autoroute) and expressways, not ordinary cantonal roads, so a determined driver could cross on slower non-motorway routes. In practice Switzerland's main transit routes are motorways, and the alternatives are much slower through mountain terrain. For almost everyone, the flat CHF 40 is worth it the moment you touch a motorway even once.
Buy the e-vignette online from the official Swiss federal customs/road system, or pick up a physical sticker at the Swiss border, post offices and many petrol stations in and around Switzerland. As with every vignette, avoid third-party resellers that add a service fee — the CHF 40 pass is identical wherever you buy it. The official price never changes between sellers; only the markup does.